A Wandering mind is like a tempestuous ocean. It can hurl you down like a lashing thunderstorm breaking the toughest of ships into pieces. Thoughts related to what happened years ago or what might happen in the future can make you feel restless. Yoga is an art that has been used for centuries by learned men and women to improve their health and keep their spiritual and physical selves well balanced. Zen Yoga, a combination of physical exercises, breathing techniques and meditation is one of the effective forms of Yoga practised by Zen Buddhists. In this article, we shall cover more about the Zen Yoga poses, how to perform and their benefits.
What Is Zen Yoga and How Did It Originate?
Zen yoga has been designed by merging the flowing movements of Tai Chi, the energized breathing of Qigong, the gentle stretching of Shanti Yoga, and the serenity of mindful meditation. It has been designed for the less athletic. Aaron Hoopes, its creator wished to make yoga and meditation available to those who are not too eager to exercise, too.
Zen yoga is a practice that calms and rejuvenates your mind. Zen Yoga creates flexibility, health, vitality and peace of mind with the help of a number of breathing and simple stretching exercises. With the correct teacher and focus, you can use this practice to turn over your life completely. Zen yoga cleanses are soul by using special Zen meditation techniques. It then balances are physical and mental needs with an excellent combination of stretching and relaxation exercises.
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Principles Of Zen Yoga?
Zen Yoga is based on three major aspects:
- Physical Alignment
- Energy Flow
- Awareness
One must adhere to these principles when practising Zen Yoga:
- Always sit with an erect spine. Never lean towards your left or right
- Maintaining the right posture must be done in all activities, not just while practising Yoga.
- Right alignment of the body alone can ensure the proper flow of energy into it
- When you have an awareness of the blocked channels in your body, you can unblock them to lead a happy life
How To Do Zen Yoga Poses for Beginners?
Given below are some of the Zen Yoga asanas, the steps to perform and their benefits to our body and mind:
1. Baddha Konasana:
Baddha Konasana is also called the Cobbler pose, for the asana resembles the posture of a cobbler making shoes. This is also termed as the Butterfly pose for it looks like a fluttering butterfly. This is one of the best hip opening poses and can soothe cramps and pain in thigh areas.
How To Do:
- Be seated on the floor with an erect spine
- Hold your feet firmly with your hands
- Inhale deeply and start fluttering like a butterfly
- Slowly get back to original position
Benefits:
- This asana can improve the flexibility of the thigh and groin areas
- It is one of the best zen yoga pose to achieve strength in the muscles
- It also helps in offering relief from sciatica
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2. Ananda Balasana:
Ananda Balasana or the Happy baby pose gets it name for its resemblance to a baby’s position on the bed. This pose can help in freeing up your thigh joints and make you active. It enables better flexibility in your joints and offers great relief from stress.
How To Do:
- Lie on your back and slowly lift up your legs while inhaling
- Bring both your knees towards your chest
- Firmly hold your big toes with your hands and stretch your hips
- Ensure that the entire spine is pressed on the floor
- Hold this position for 20 seconds and release
Benefits:
- It helps in strengthening the spine and thighs
- It releases the trapped energy in the back to alleviate from pains
Benefits Of Practising Zen Yoga:
Practising Zen Yoga can help in reducing stress in our everyday life. The other benefits are:
- Zen Yoga helps in enhancing the quality of life by reducing physical and mental pain
- It promotes better flexibility of muscles by releasing the trapped energy inside them
- Zen Yoga promotes positivity in life through a balanced state of mind
- Zeb Yoga increases mental clarity and helps you make better decisions in life
- It removes conflicts in our minds and enable you to seek answers to all your woes
The Zen yoga routines are simple and easy to follow. Thus, it is a practice that can be taken up by anyone, regardless of their age or body structure. It involves a balanced routine including relaxation techniques and effective breathing, energizing movement. Not only this, Zen Yoga can reduce stress, release toxicity, raise metabolism, improve circulation, and relieve chronic pain and tension, leading to better health, vigour and longevity.
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In today’s world, the average life span of humans has increased, thanks to modern medicine. However, quantity with no quality is not desirable. Leading each day with stress, agony, anger, jealousy, depression and anxiety is not worth living. One needs to first start appreciating and respecting their lives to enjoy happiness. This can be done only when you live in the present and forget about the past and future. Zen Yoga helps you achieve just that with complete wellness of body, mind and soul.
